


reality

by kngysng



Category: ATEEZ (Band)
Genre: ATEEZ Storyline Event, Angst, Gen, Implied/Referenced Abuse, Poverty
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-16
Updated: 2020-07-16
Packaged: 2021-03-04 23:01:38
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 407
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25314256
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kngysng/pseuds/kngysng
Summary: Mingi's learned not to dream.
Comments: 1
Kudos: 12





	reality

**Author's Note:**

> written for the ateez storyline event! enjoy and thanks for reading~

Mingi's learned not to dream.

When he was a child, he loved to dream. He would dream about anything and everything. He dreamed about eating all the delicious foods he saw in the supermarket. He dreamed about having a big house, with heating and air conditioning. He dreamed about road trips across the country, and flights around the globe. He dreamed about friendship and love and stability.

Mingi lived in his head, with all of his dreams.

They helped him stay alive.

Mingi thought he could one day achieve those dreams. He could go to the supermarket and buy as much food as he wanted. He would never run out and never go hungry. He could buy his big house, and paint the walls as he wanted, and never be too cold or too hot. He could travel and see the world, go from New York to London to Moscow to Tokyo, anywhere he his heart desired. He could have the best of friends and fall in love and never be lonely.

Mingi was naive.

Once he grew up, the illusion shattered. Reality set in. And Mingi realized he has nothing, and that's how it'll always be.

He's hungry and cold, in more ways than one. There is not always food on the table and sometimes there's no lights on in the house. There's icy cold showers and a mold infestation. The people inside are loveless, stumbling around each other like strangers. They bark and growl but never speak.

There's bruises on Mingi's face. A sword in his heart, cutting it clean in half. 

He takes trips in magazines and books, looking at the pictures of all the places he'll never get to go and the things he'll never get to do. He brushes his fingers along the images and closes his eyes and for a minute, he can pretend. He's on a beach in Santorini, he's balancing on a cliff edge in the Grand Canyon, he's looking up at the Taj Mahal. 

Then Mingi opens his eyes and he's in the wasteland called home.

There's cracks in the walls. Demons in his brain, constantly reminding him.

It's suffocating. It's excruciating. It's consuming him. Mingi struggles to breath and he can't stand to think - think of what life could be, what he could have, if he could be happy and free and loved. If he could afford to  _ dream _ .

But he's no longer a child.

Dreaming kills.


End file.
